CHAPTER 06 -- THE SOUTH MOLE
Chapter 06: THE SOUTH MOLE
Having finished the Fuel Oil storage complex at the end of the East Mole, and settled on the type and width of the southern exit from the dockyard, I decided the South Mole would be left mostly empty. There was not enough room to accommodate any additional facilities south of that point, and in all probability it would be left as a forested zone. Since neighboring maps had no populated areas nearby, it seemed the best place for the Munitions Depot.
Battleships of the “Dreadnought Era” varied widely in their individual armament, ranging in size from (mostly) 10 inch to 16 inch main battery guns, with between 8 and 14 guns per ship. Each gun was usually supplied with 150 to 200 rounds stored in on-board magazines located deep within the hull behind layers of thick armor plate. Simple math demonstrates that any given battleship would carry between 1,600 to 2,800 shells (usually armor-piercing) with their associated powder propellant charges. This may sound like an over abundance of shells, but the average “QF” (Quick Firing) battleship gun could fire two or three rounds per minute. A mere 30 minutes of firing – perhaps stretched over several hours of enemy contact – could exhaust or seriously deplete a warships ammunition stocks.
A Munitions Depot would probably stock sufficient shells and powder to replenish a warship twice over, and a large fleet of capital ships would require a massive storage facility. Since accidental explosions were not uncommon in those days, such a large facility would have to be located as far as possible from other dockyard installations as well as any populated areas.
In this first shot you can see that the munitions complex has been roughed-in, but after looking at it for a couple of days, I decided the bunker system was too far forward and the piers too short. The original concept was taken from a modern naval munitions pier system at Point Luna, California.
On this second map, you can see that I moved the bunkers a bit farther back, worked out the rail line arrangement, reduced the land in front of the bunkers to fit, reduced the space between piers, and extended the causeways out into the harbor.
In the third map shot, the munitions area has been completed and the surrounding area forested. The ships and quay on the north edge of the water were placed during testing for “The Long Quay” lots.
This is the finished South Mole. The Cape Hatteras Lighthouse by SM2 marks the South Channel entrance.
Laying at anchor off the South Mole are three Admiral Graf Spee Class “pocket battleships”. They just recently returned from a “Courtesy Tour” in the Mediterranean to “show the flag” and keep Germany’s Italian Allies happy. Berthing space is currently at a premium in the dockyard, so an anchorage close inshore has been arranged and supplies are being brought out by the “lighters” alongside. The ships will be rotated in and out of the harbor as soon as the refueling dock is available.
Unfortunately, I do not have accurate models to represent all three ships of the class. KM Admiral Graf Spee was completed as you see in the picture, while KM Admiral Scheer and KM Deutschland (ex – KM Lutzow) were completed with variations to the fore-bridge structure or the “Pagoda-like” bridge tower.
The world Press Corps dubbed these vessels “pocket battleships” because they mounted 11 inch guns, but displaced only 16,000 tons. So, in all truth, they were simply “large cruisers”. But they had the guns of a battleship mounted on a speedy cruiser hull – possibly the worst nightmare of a Britain heavily dependent on seaborne commerce. They could, in effect, “Sink anything they could catch, and run away from anything they could not sink”. As always – these exceptionally detailed and beautifully executed warships are courtesy of @Barroco Hispano.
This shows the end of the seawall at the boundary of the naval base. At the corner, a “Shore Patrol” detail is taking a break before setting out on another leg of their fence patrol. You can see the texture and detail of the “JS Seawalls” to good effect, and PEG’s high security fence has been “modified” to be “MMP-friendly”. The landscape is done with “Heblem Sands” and a variety of MMP trees and ground-cover (largely the work of @Girafe).
This is a small railyard annex and the “Munitions Basin” where cargo can be landed from small ships and scows. These facilities support the larger munitions complex without the need to move large amounts of high explosives through the rest of the dockyard. Note my friend “Moby” at the bottom of the picture. No doubt he has been inspecting the anchored squadron – they are, after all, in his waters.
This is a closer shot of the support services area. A crane locomotive is always kept available here in case other equipment malfunctions, or in the event of large scale damage to the complex. Loaded ammunition trains are never brought into this yard, but empty cars may be parked here pending transfer. Some empty cars and two switch engines are always on duty to help remove ammunition that might be endangered by fire.
The loading quay on the other side of the basin provides the option of receiving goods by water rather than rail. Bulk cargoes of building materials (sand and gravel, timber, etc, etc) are cheaply and easily brought in by scow.
This is a detail shot of the railyard area. Most everything here is from PEG, SFBT, or SM2 and has been re-lotted or re-purposed to suit the needs of a small “parking area” for rolling stock.
Here we have a close-up of the loading quay on the north side of the basin.
The Munitions Complex is so large I think it would work better broken down into two more “chapters”. That will allow more pictures to pick out the details.
This chapter again demonstrates one of my long-time goals in SC4 -- being able to create almost any type of environment out of the lots and props readily available in the game. "Do more with what you have." With the exception of the wonderful PEG sets -- the Army base and the SNM Naval series -- none of these lots were ever designed to be used in a military / naval scenario. I have NO 3D batting skills, so I am unable to construct my own models that would be more specific to the subject matter. But with a reasonably good working knowledge -- I am able to "re-lot" other lots and props from the game and "create" or "re-purpose" them for use in my dockyard. Even the PEG lots were given a "face-lift" to improve their realism and add flexibility to make them more useful.
A "modular Approach" was employed to allow key lots to be pieced together like a puzzle -- creating installations of various sizes and shapes. This guarantees visual variety, while limiting the number of lots added to your plugins folder (another key goal of mine). A classic example of this would be a city park. You can, using your lotting skills, create a unique 4x4 park for your city. Or -- you could create a dozen 1x1 lots in a modular style and use them to create a park of any shape or size. That way each park will be unique in appearance, while fitting into any odd shaped area -- big or small.
If you enjoyed anything you saw – please punch the “like” button so I will know. A comment would be even more informative.
Comments and critiques requested and gratefully accepted. All questions answered promptly to the best of my ability.
THANK YOU for your visit !
Next time…...The Munitions Bunkers.
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